A typical trenching machine, e.g., the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,221 to Hillard et al., has a digging boom which is connected to a tractor for pivotal movement. A toothed digging chain is rotatably mounted on the digging boom and driven for digging in the ground. An auger is provided at the base of the digging boom to disperse the spoil that is dug during the trenching operation to the sides of the trench. A support boom extends from the digging boom and is substantially parallel with the digging boom. If desired, a crumber attachment may be attached to the support boom for cleaning the bottom of the trench during the digging operation. Following the trenching operation, a substantial amount of dirt, mud, and other debris remains along side of the trench to be backfilled into the trench. Typically, this debris must be backfilled into the trench either by shoveling it by hand or by bringing in an additional plow machine to do the backfilling. Hand shoveling requires time consuming and expensive manual labor and the use of an additional machine can be expensive and logistically difficult.
A variety of plows which attach to the front of existing machines, such as forklift trucks and other vehicles, snow blowers, roto-tillers, and excavators, have been developed. These attachment plows can be used for moving a variety of materials along the ground, such as dirt or snow. Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,952 to Dion, a plow attachment for a roto-tiller; U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,129 to Rothbart, a plow attachment for a forklift truck; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,287 to de Brito, a plow attachment for a snowblower. However, there are no known plow attachments that will easily and quickly attach to and detach from a trencher machine.
Accordingly, there is a need for an inexpensive and simple plow attachment for a trencher machine that can be easily and quickly attached to and detached from a trencher machine. Further, such a device is preferably adjustable vertically to different heights, and in a variety of angled positions. Moreover, because such a device may only be occasionally used, the device should be compact, requiring minimum storage space when not in use.